Spectrum Health closes deal for Gill property, moves ahead with building plan

Spectrum Health closes deal for Gill property, moves ahead with building plan
Spectrum Health President and CEO Tina Freese Decker

 

GRAND RAPIDS — After finalizing a property deal with Gill Industries Inc., Spectrum Health is moving forward with plans to build a new office building on the north end of downtown that will consolidate 1,200 employees at a single location and house a training and learning center.

Construction on the $100 million, 300,000-square-foot Center for Transformation and Innovation office building planned for a site on Bond Avenue could begin in early 2021 with occupancy targeted for 2022, Spectrum Health officials confirmed to MiBiz.

The new office “enables us to reimagine innovative approaches and leverage consolidation — including human resources, finance, facilities management, medical group and other administrative functions — and co-locate these offices with a learning center for all employees,” the health system said.

Through the office building, the health system is “taking a multi-faceted approach to support its vision of personalized health made simple, affordable and exceptional.” Spectrum Health plans to dedicate 30,000 square feet of space for public health education sessions and “other community-based events” it will host, according to a statement.

“We are excited to create a collaborative space for learning, development and innovation that brings people together to prepare for the future of personalized health — and make inroads to lower the cost of care and coverage,” President and CEO Tina Freese Decker said in a statement to MiBiz. “Spectrum Health has been part of the transformation of this community for more than 20 years, and we are proud to help shape the landscape of North Monroe and the vitality of downtown.”

The office building will rise on an industrial site now occupied by a production facility for Gill Industries, which acquired the site in a 2014 deal for the former GR Spring & Stamping Inc.

The Grand Rapids health system closed Dec. 26 on the acquisition of two parcels totaling more than 5 acres from Gill Real Estate Holding Co., an affiliate of Gill. Spectrum Health paid $11.05 million for the parcels, according to city property records.

For the new office building, Spectrum Health considered both the Gill property and a site it owns on Leffingwell Avenue on the city’s east side. The health system selected the downtown location because of its close proximity to the Butterworth Hospital campus and the Medical Mile health care, education and research corridor along Michigan Street.

“This opportunity presented itself while we were planning for Leffingwell and with the collaboration of our community partners and city leaders, we chose to move forward with the North Monroe location,” Spectrum Health said in its statement. “The site was selected in large part because it’s within walking distance of the Medical Mile, ensuring collaboration and access among the approximately 1,200 employees who will be located at North Monroe.”

The new office also will free up space at the nearby medical campus that then “can be used for future clinical growth and decrease operating costs for administrative space,” according to the organization.

Spectrum Health will continue to have more than 10,000 employees at the Butterworth campus who work in direct patient care. 

In October, the Kent County Board of Commissioners approved issuing $140 million in tax-exempt bonds for Spectrum Health through the Kent County Hospital Finance Authority. The bonds will go toward the “costs of acquiring, constructing, furnishing and equipping new facilities.” At the time, Spectrum Health said it was still weighing its options of where to locate the $100 million Center for Transformation and Innovation. The remainder of the bonds will refinance dent and loans for existing Spectrum Health projects in Grand Rapids and Ludington.